Friday, January 9, 2015

O'Reily's Java 8 Lambdas by Richard Warburn is a "must have" if you are starting with Java 8 or functional programming. The book covers the different features of Java 8, and how using lambdas make you a better programmer. Here are some topics that catched my attention:

Streams - separate the "what" from "how"

Patterns to refactor using lambdas

Higher order functions

Lambda expressions can be used to make many existing design patterns simpler and more readable, especially the command pattern

Lambda-Enabled Concurrency

Lambda-Enabled SOLID principles

I recommended the book to my team and in my Meetup group - I'm the organizer of the Miami JVM Meetup. I use the book constantly while doing code reviews. Again, any developer, team leader, or architect who is starting to use Java 8 should get this book. I really enjoyed the ending and finally understood the Reactive Programming approach. As the author mentioned,

The critical design tool for software development is a mind well educated in design principles. It is not...technology. - Craig Larman